 1863 - 1908 (44 years)
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| Name |
Byron J. CARTER |
When Byron married Della, he said on the marriage record that he had been married once before. When the 1900 census was taken, the Byron J. Carter family was living at 214 Washington St. in Jackson, Michigan. Byron was a dealer in bicycles. When the 1920 census was taken, Della and her two children were living at 105 Third St. in Jackson. When the 1930 census was taken, Della was living by herself at 107 _______ St. in Jackson.
Byron J. Carter built a steam car in 1902 and joined with two fellow Jackson investors, George Matthews, owner of Fuller Buggy Co., and Charles Lewis, president of Lewis Spring and Axle Co., in 1903 to form the Jackson Automobile Co. to manufacture steam and gasoline engine cars. Carter left this company in 1905 to pursue his idea of a friction drive automobile when he formed the Cartercar Motorcar Company. Production began in 1905 with the 1 and 2-cylinder models. Only 2-cylinder cars were produced from 1906 through 1909. Only 4-cylinder cars were produced beginning with the 1910 model. Cartercar was known for their gearless, friction drive transmission. Cartercar was absorbed into General Motors in October 26, 1909.
A skilled mechanic, Carter had developed a special friction transmission which, according to him, was infinitely superior to anything else on the market. He set about demonstrating its virtues—and those of the car he built around it—with exceptional energy. Carter made no claims for the speed of his auto; what he was selling was strength, toughness, and flexibility. He sent his car to state fairs, ran it up library steps and down cog railway inclines, lashed it to massive traction engines, and bulled it ahead through snowstorms. He had every accomplishment photographed, and ran the pictures in his brochures. Occasionally, Carter would manufacture a bizarre situation to show special virtues of his machine: its ease in starting was demonstrated by the midget Count Magri, who cranked it up while his wife, General Tom Thumb widow, looked on; its supernatural smoothness allowed Mr. Doan, a tightrope walker, to teeter his way over ten miles of countryside on a rope fixed above the body of the auto. Carters campaign was effective enough to sway at least one highly knowledgeable car owner. William Durant, the founder of General Motors, was so impressed by the frictionless drive that in 1909 he bought the patent and the company. Six years later, he quietly shut down the whole enterprise.
In 1910, Byron suffered a broken jaw and arm when he stopped to help a woman with the crank-starter on her car. The crank, linked directly to the cars drive shaft, was capable of bucking out of the hands of its "cranker," and Carter suffered for it. His injuries grew complicated and, combined with a case of pneumonia, killed him. The death of Byron so distressed his close friend Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac that he hired Charles F. Kettering to develop a self-starting mechanism which he applied for a U.S. patent in 1911.
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| Born |
17 Aug 1863 |
Hanover, Jackson Co., MI  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
06 Apr 1908 |
MI |
| Person ID |
I12838 |
Chartier Family |
| Last Modified |
7 Jul 2016 |
| Family |
Dorothy J. (Della) GILLETTE, b. c.Oct 1875, MI |
| Married |
01 Jul 1896 |
Jackson Co., MI |
| Children |
| | 1. Rachel Lucretia CARTER, b. 31 Oct 1897, Jackson Co., MI [Birth] |
| | 2. Barbara J. CARTER, b. 06 May 1901, Jackson, Jackson Co., MI , d. 16 Oct 1902, Jackson, Jackson Co., MI (Age 1 years) [Birth] |
| | 3. Kenneth G. CARTER, b. 01 May 1906, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI , d. 30 Sep 1976, Saugatuck, Allegan Co., MI (Age 70 years) [Birth] |
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| Last Modified |
21 Jun 2016 00:00:00 |
| Family ID |
F6365 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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